1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to laser scanners of ultra-compact design capable of reading bar code symbols in point-of-sale (POS) and other demanding scanning environments.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The use of bar code symbols for product and article identification is well known in the art. Presently, various types of bar code symbol scanners have been developed. In general, these bar code symbol readers can be classified into two distinct classes.
The first class of bar code symbol reader simultaneously illuminates all of the bars and spaces of a bar code symbol with light of a specific wavelength(s) in order to capture an image thereof for recognition and decoding purposes. Such scanners are commonly known as CCD scanners because they use CCD image detectors to detect images of the bar code symbols being read.
The second class of bar code symbol reader uses a focused light beam, typically a focused laser beam, to sequentially scan the bars and spaces of a bar code symbol to be read. This type of bar code symbol scanner is commonly called a “flying spot” scanner as the focused laser beam appears as “a spot of light that flies” across the bar code symbol being read. In general, laser bar code symbol scanners are sub-classified further by the type of mechanism used to focus and scan the laser beam across bar code symbols.
Such flying spot scanners generally employ at least one laser diode, the light from which is focused and collimated to produce a scanning beam. The scanning beam is directed to a scanning element (such as a rotating polygonal mirror or rotating holographic disk), which redirects the scanning beam across a plurality of stationary beam folding mirrors. Light reflected from a bar code label returns to the stationary beam folding mirrors and scanning element. A light collecting optical element collects this returning light and directs it to a photodetector. The electrical signals generated by the photodetector are processed to detect and decode bar code symbols therein.
The bar code symbols are formed from bars or elements typically rectangular in shape with a variety of possible widths. The specific arrangement of elements defines the character represented according to a set of rules and definitions specified by the code or “symbology” used. The relative size of the bars and spaces is determined by the type of coding used, as is the actual size of the bars and spaces. The number of characters per inch represented by the bar code symbol is referred to as the density of the symbol. To encode a desired sequence of characters, a collection of element arrangements are concatenated together to form the complete bar code symbol, with each character being represented by its own corresponding group of elements. In some symbologies, a unique “start” and “stop” character is used to indicate when the bar code begins and ends. A number of different bar code symbologies exist, including UPC Symbologies, EAN Symbologies, Code 39, Code 128, Code 93, Codabar and Interleaved 2 of 5, etc.
In order to produce a successful scan, an object's bar code symbol must be oriented with respect to a given scanning beam so that the angle therebetween is not so oblique so as to cause an insufficient amount of reflected light to return back to the scanner. Therefore, to achieve a successful scan, the bar code symbol must be positioned sufficiently close to this desired orientation for the given scanning beam.
Thus, to improve the performance of such optical bar code scanners, modern scanners have been developed that employ aggressive scan patterns (i.e., a large number of scanning beams that project into a scan volume at different orientations), which enable such scanners to successfully scan bar code labels over a large number of orientations thereby providing increased scanning throughput. Such modern optical scanners may emit light through a single aperture (such as a horizontal or vertical aperture) or through multiple apertures. Modern optical scanners that emit a large number of scan lines through both a horizontal and vertical aperture are commonly referred to as bioptical scanners. Examples of polygon-based bioptical laser scanning systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,588 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,732, assigned to NCR, Inc., each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In general, bioptical laser scanning systems are generally more aggressive that conventional single scanning window systems. For this reason, bioptical scanning systems are often deployed in demanding retail environments, such as supermarkets and high-volume department stores, where high check-out throughput is critical to achieving store profitability and customer satisfaction.
Such modern high performance optical scanners typically scan multiple scanning beams though the scanning volume and employ a corresponding number of photodetectors for detecting reflection from the multiple scanning beams. In such systems, optical crosstalk degrades performance. More specifically, optical crosstalk occurs when light from multiple laser scanning beams meet at a target (or any surface in the scanning system). The light reflected therefrom follows a return path to the corresponding multiple photodetectors, which creates an undesirable signal spike in the output of the corresponding multiple photodetectors that can make a bar code symbol unreadable at that point.
In addition, light interference from ambient light and unwanted reflections degrades performance. More specifically, ambient light that is received at a photodetector in addition to reflections (i.e., scattered light) from laser scanning beams that are not intended to be received by the photodetector can create an undesirable signal spike in the output of the photodetector that can make a bar code symbol unreadable.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for improved optical scanning systems that scan multiple scanning beams though the scanning volume and employ a corresponding number of photodetectors for detecting reflection from the multiple scanning beams, which do not suffer from degraded performance due to optical crosstalk and light interference from ambient light and unwanted reflections.